Inquiry into police spying must not be another whitewash

Socialist Party press release, 7.3.14

Under enormous public pressure the government has said it will launch an inquiry into the work of undercover police officers in relation to allegations that police spied on the Stephen Lawrence family campaign and other anti-racist campaigners. Campaigners will now have to fight to ensure this is not just another whitewash.

The Socialist Party has repeatedly protested against the racist actions of the police in relation to black and Asian communities. We have also opposed the outrageous and completely unjustified police activities against anti-racist, environmental, trade unionists and other campaigners; all must be fully investigated.

Police agent Peter Daley (real name Peter Francis) infiltrated Militant, the forerunner of the Socialist Party, in the 1990s. As a result large police files are wrongly held on socialists.

Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary, said: "We demand that any inquiry must encompass all of these victims of police spying and have the ability to compel witnesses to attend and investigate not just the role of the police but also the politicians in charge."

Lois Austin, former national chair of Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE), which police spy agent Peter Daley infiltrated, is part of the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance.

At the campaign's recent meeting she called for an independent public inquiry. She said there can be no trust in the police investigating the police or another establishment-run 'inquiry' whitewash. Not just the police tops but also politicians should be investigated about their role, including former home secretaries, both under New Labour and the Tories.

Lois is speaking on BBC Radio 2 today on these issues.

Hannah Sell, also former secretary of YRE, said: "We have no trust in a 'Hutton style report'. Tony Blair's recently revealed comment says it all. When Blair advised Rebekah Brooks to publish such a report into the allegations on phone hacking it showed how cynically establishment politicians view the desire people have for justice to be done.

"We demand a genuinely independent public inquiry involving democratically-elected representatives from the trade union movement and the anti-racist and environmental protest groups that have suffered infiltration."